Margaret Zimmer received her BS in Environmental Studies from Oberlin College, her MS in Earth Sciences from Syracuse University, and her PhD from Earth and Ocean Sciences from Duke University. She is currently an assistant professor at the University of California, Santa Cruz, where she started in the Earth and Planetary Sciences Department in January 2018. Her research primarily focuses on investigating how Earth's surface and near-surface dictates water and solute transport and storage.
Abstract: Improving predictions of water cycle perturbations in the face of global change requires that we refine our mechanistic understanding of how Earth’s subsurface regulates connectivity between hydrologic stores and fluxes. A current roadblock to meeting this need is our limited knowledge about subsurface architecture, defined here by depth to bedrock and material porosity-permeability gradients, and how this architecture modulates hydrologic processes. In this seminar talk, I will share recent research at Blue Oak Ranch Reserve (BORR), a water-limited central coastal California oak savanna, where we are investigating how the evolution of the critical zone (defined as the upper layer of Earth's surface from bedrock to the tree canopy) controls the partitioning of precipitation into hydrologic stores and fluxes. In particular, I will show how underlying lithology and microclimates set the stage for how hillslopes regulate critical zone controls on subsurface water storage, ecosystem water availability for evapotranspiration, and downstream surface water resources.